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WM/Treks/Log 4-13
Narrator: The delvers have travelled east and west around the West March and entered into a forbidding dwarven fortress. Narrator: They were ambushed by savage gargoyle bandits but defeated them, and now have control of the lightless citadel. GM: As an aside, it's a little after 10:30, the mana level is low, and it is the high holy day of Sun and Travel. Osgar: and there are mass quantities of valuable meteoric iron ore chunks everwhere! Narrator: The space they are currently in is a huge hall, easily 100+ feet square, with a high domed ceiling supported by pillars. A mess of rocks litter the floor, dropped from murder holes above through some strange mechanism controlled by a console on a platform to the south. Beltarne: ((Or at least control of this portion of the lightless citadel.)) Narrator: Numerous doors on the south half of the room lead east, west, and south further into the citadel. GM: Everyone is also down FP from the fight, less about 10 minutes of rest. What are you up to? Beltarne: I suggest "resting more." Osgar: "Someone make sure those buggers are flying off and not setting up another ambush" Bedlam: ((erm... not sure what that works out to for me)) Ystävä: I start by adjusting my FP total, and then go with sitting out fron twhile we rest for a little bit. Ystävä: (( GM said down 8 FP above I think? )) Ystävä: (( plus resting for 10 minutes )) Osgar: Lyralen is down some HP? Ystävä: (( which gets you back one, or two if you're Fit )) Bedlam: ((okay, and for mouser, since he was out for part of the fight?)) GM: No, I said that Bedlam was down 8 HP, since he'd been using Mighty Blows. Everyone else is down Encumbrance + 1 and anything else they spent. Mouser didn't spend any FP. Ystävä: (( 8 HP for mighty blows? )) Artegal: ((Down 8 FP for mighty blows.)) Bedlam: ((I assume he meant FP)) Ystävä: THem some seriously mightly blows Osgar: thought Lyralen got hit on the head by rocks Artegal: ((He got healed.)) GM: Oops, FP, grrr. Ystävä: is sitting outside watching Gargoyles while we rest. Osgar: so, down fight FP + 10 min rest? Narrator: The gargoyles trudge north on the paved road, carrying their wounded with them. GM: Osgar: yes. Osgar: starts looking at the levers, not touching them, after the short rest GM: ... also, there are doors leading from each of the balconies, but it's not always obvious how to get from one to another. GM: The console is labeled in a heavy dwarvish font, and the labels look to be inscrutable dwarvish abbreviations. Beltarne: Would anyone care to do some First Aid on me? Beltarne: I'm down... 4? Ystävä: I would suggest not me. Torvall: First Aid (12): result: ?succeeded by 1 » Osgar: heh Torvall: 2 Osgar: guess torvall jumps at the chance Torvall: Didn't put in the minus so probably only 1 HP GM: Nah, magically assisted First Aid in the West March recovers 1d HP per successful use. Beltarne: Huzzah! Narrator: As Osgar investigates the balcony, he also sees piles of bedding, ruined crates, and barrels in the southeast corner. Beltarne: Once rested, I'd like to find some ground floor exits from here. Osgar: oh, was it obvious how to get up there or am I still on ground level? GM: There are roughly a dozen of them, as I indicated above. Beltarne: Yar Osgar: looks for lables on the doors GM: There's a doorway on the southwest side of the platform that opens up on a doorway that leads to the instrument panel. GM: And none of of the doorways are labeled. Ystävä: It's hard to find them, GM. LIke, visually. There's only a few pixels to look at and they're all brown :/ Osgar: I think the blackness is hiding all the doors Ystävä: I'm not even sure where the platform is. GM: Find what? There are no doorways shown on the map, because I didn't bother to map out a massive multilevel dwarf fortress. Beltarne: So us ground-bound delvers can walk up to the platform from the bottom floor, yes? GM: The platform with the console is in the south center of the room (labeled as a balcony, but whatever). Yes, there are stairs leading up from the southwest side of that balcony. Osgar: (( I'm not flying currently, there is a door and stairs up to it )) Beltarne: inspects the dwarven script on the panel. Bedlam: ((say, is there a reason I can only see when near other PCs?)) Ystävä: Sorry, GM: to confirm the only doors at ground level are the front outside hole in the door, and the one to the platform-with-lever? GM: Just to be clear: if you want to investigate further into the citadel, just say the word and we'll handle it narratively until you get to the point where another map would be appropriate. Osgar: "We should move all the ore into a pile to see how much there is, it's valuable stuff!" Ystävä: We're having trouble determining HOW we'd investigate further into the citatdel, I think. GM: No, there are at least 12 ground level doors on the southern half of the room. GM: Bedlam: presumably, you don't have a light source and the unlit citadel is dark. Ystävä: I think we do want to go asploring. Ystävä: Yesno? Vote? Osgar: "Beltarne, your people built this, ever hear of it before?" Bedlam: ((nightvision no worky?)) GM: Splitting up or all together? Splitting up is faster, but obviously more dangerous. Also, people without Absolute Direction may have problems. Ystävä: Ystava does not want to go alone! That's creepy. What if he gets stuck in a hole? GM: Bedlam: Night Vision requires some light. There are no lights beside what your allies brought, and they're mostly being drowned out by the vastness of the place. Ystävä: Who will protect the tiny people!? Beltarne: No on the splitting up. Bedlam: ((Okay, fair enough... didn't realize that)) Osgar: I think we search the room for clues randomly, but we stay together if we leave it Beltarne: This is what is known in the delving business as a Bad Idea Beltarne: ™ Osgar: "So, some of you folk are stumbing around in the dark, don't you have lights? Beltarne: mutters "sometimes we forget light, sometimes we forget food... what's next?" while squinting at the dwarven script on the levers. Ystävä: "I am with the glowing and the magic and the shield and it's sunny!" Ystävä: beams. Literally. Osgar: can't figure out the levers and so examines each door for traps and signs of usage or people trying to force it GM: Several of the doors are open; a few of them have been forced. What's Osgar's trap skill? Osgar: 15 GM: Osgar doesn't find any traps on any of the doors. Osgar: can we see anything interesting through the open ones? Beltarne: ((We need silly string.)) Ystävä: (( so... osgar can see something interesting? )) GM: Hallways and more doors, mostly. Many of which are also open. Do you want to quickly survey the area until you find something or pick a random direction and search it thoroughly? Osgar: starts to sketch out a map of what he can see GM: Check. Beltarne: Can I read the script on the levers, GM? Osgar: "Well, this seems like a big place with lots of door, we just wanna start with the one on the right or does anyone have an idea of where to go?" GM: Sure, but the problem is, "SdFlCt" doesn't mean much to you either. Beltarne: That's fair. GM: Osgar quickly finishes his map. There's a bunch of halls and stairs in the immediate vicinity, but nothing like "Treasure here" or "This way to super powers." Osgar: "So, anyone?" Beltarne: Can I check the travelogue of the young dwarfess for any mention of this place? Ystävä: We got broken doors and unbroken doors. Ystävä: Which way were the doors broken - from within or from our side? Osgar: some are open and unbroken! Ystävä: First question. Ystävä: Broken/open doors probably don't have treasure behind them, because the bloody gargoyles took it Beltarne: Right. GM: She's visited a few times: it's a military fortress, mainly. There should be some crypts, barracks, armories, smithies, the mines, defensive works (though she doesn't more than allude to those), administration, food stores, and the Master Smithy. Beltarne: I describe what I can to everyone else. GM: She's surprisingly vague about how it's all laid out, but you get the impression the crypt is below as are the mines and the barracks, smithies, armory, and Master Smithy are on this level or above. Beltarne: "The master smithy may show promise." Beltarne: "As may the armory." GM: Note: the translation of "Master Smithy" may be the same as "Master Forge" into Trade Tongue. Ystävä: (( where one makes the Master Sword! )) Osgar: Ok, so we concentrate on ways that go up, skipping the ones that go down for now, sound good? Osgar: "Ok, so we concentrate on ways that go up, skipping the ones that go down for now, sound good?" Ystävä: Sure! Ystävä: "This is ok." GM: Beltarne can also guess that the mines are going to have heavy defensive works, though those are mostly going to face down and out. Nasty things live downbelow and you don't want them coming in uninvited. Osgar: starts on the door most to the right, aka, west GM: Alright, this level and above. Fast survey or pick some direction and really search it? Osgar: "Anyone want to help double check for traps?" Beltarne: "I can try." Osgar: I was planning on the go right until you can't method, excluding downs Beltarne: "Though I'll admit I don't really know what I'm doing." Beltarne: "I say we take our time, take it slow. No telling what else is in here." Osgar: "Well, never hurts to look." GM: I guess I'm asking are you carefully searching the walls for secret doors, opening every cabinet, etc. etc. or are you just walking around going "looks like a barracks room, come back later"? Beltarne: "Could be greenskins, crushrooms, ancient traps, or worst of all, cave spiders." Lyralen: hello all! Beltarne: "I guess survey first." Osgar: I'm not going to look for secret doors everwhere, I might if there is a clue that one would be there Beltarne: ((Survey first, get floorplan, IMO.)) Osgar: Yah, get the floorplan first GM: Right ho. Ystävä: We are, however, looking for traps. Ystävä: Because duh. GM: How long do you want to explore for? Osgar: at least until lunch GM: Okay, 2 hours or so. Right. Ystävä: And then, we eat! Narrator: The delvers pass through the deserted halls of the ancient fortress. For the most part, the citadel seems to have been thoroughly ransacked of anything especially valuable. Statues have been disfigured, losing whatever gems where in their eyes. Barracks have been tossed, and any loose coin stolen. The treasury has been breached, and nothing remains inside. Bedlam: "Well... this was a great idea. Just look at all this treasure." Beltarne: "You mean like the tons of meteoric iron at the entrance?" Narrator: There are, however, a few points of interest remaining. There are still cabinets and foot lockers in the barracks, which could possibly yield some wealth from determined seekers. Osgar: "They missed all the meteoric ore! at least!" Narrator: There are piles of iron ore for the lesser forges. Narrator: And there is a pair of double doors, with the dwarven words "The Master Forge of Vinnelbrann" carved into the rock above them. Beltarne: "Heeeeeey" Beltarne: eyes box. Ystävä: "I have the crowbar!" Beltarne: "Wait, we have a key." Beltarne: tries the door. Ystävä: "Aw." Narrator: These doors are massive, easily 10 feet wide and 25 feet tall each. Piled in front of them is all manner of broken beds, large rocks, mining carts, reinforcement beams, and miscellaneous rubbage. Osgar: "The crowbar is not always the answer!" Ystävä: "There is the lockers?" Ystävä: "The crowbar is the answer there, yes?" Beltarne: "Yes, Ystava." Ystävä: "Hurray!" Bedlam: "Any lock will open with the proper application of force." Beltarne: So GM, if I had to guess would I say the dwarves were trying to keep something in, or out? Narrator: Barely visible behind the improvised barricade are the doors themselves. Someone without much talent has painted skulls over them, and below that are orcish warning glyphs, and below that faded paint reads "Forbidden" Under no account enter these doors." Beltarne: Or whomever piled all the stuff up. Osgar: "Someone wanted those door closed" Ystävä: "The crowbar is for moving the junk, too." Beltarne: "Hrm. Maybe whatever hates orks will like us." GM: The stuff is piled to prevent anyone from opening the doors - the lock on the doors was clearly forced at one point. Beltarne: "We aren't green after all." Lyralen: "I'll wager you're right, Beltarne. I'm sure that something the orcs tried to barricade out will like us!" Osgar: "Er, wouldn't count on that one laddie" Beltarne: "We could always return the key to the elders, get the story from them, then come back." Osgar: how many other languages are on there? Beltarne: "They might even pay us to take care of whatever this is." Beltarne: waves his axe at the pile of furniture. Osgar: "Ooh, bonus pay, THAT I like!" Ystävä: scratches his chin. "I do like the money." Osgar: "Plus it would be nice to know if it's the demon that can only be killed by poseys or something like that." Beltarne: "Right. And it'd be a shame to accidentally release some unspeakable evil or something." GM: Well, 3 legible layers. There's also some things that look something like Trade Tongue letters, sorta, maybe? GM: At the bottom, faded Trade Tongue. Overwriting that, orkish warning glyphs. On top of that, crudely drawn gargoyle skulls. Near to the skulls, weird looking letter like things. Torvall: ((It wouldn't be a day in the Westmarches without releasing some unspeakable evil...)) Beltarne: "Okay, so we return later after checking with the Dwarven Elders and seeing if they'll pay us to take care of this?" Osgar: takes some time to note down all the warnings and symbols on the door Beltarne: "To the armories?" GM: Literate people can make IQ-2 checks. Beltarne: IQ check result: ?succeeded by 0 Osgar: IQ check result: ?succeeded by 7 Torvall: IQ (12): result: ?failed by 5 » Ystävä: Ystava technically has Broken literacy in Common. I think that's IQ-5 or something. I'm sure it's low enough that I can't succeed. Bedlam: ((everyone is literate by default, right?)) Ystävä: (( yes, you have to buy the disad )) Bedlam: IQ check result: ?failed by 5 GM: Osgar and Beltarne realize that odd letters are Trade Tongue script written with each letter mirrored. Unmirroring them turns it into either "udar uordoum etjevadazen" or "nezadavejte moudrou radu", depending on whether you think the entire phrase was mirrored or just each word. GM: Also, something about the entire mess triggers a vague memory in Beltarne's head: something to do with Thasos and a book he found a month or two ago. Beltarne: And this is gibberish in trade tongue as well as english, yes? GM: Yes. (English is Trade Tongue, for translation convention). Beltarne: "Anyone remember Thasos having a book about this?" Beltarne: looks around and realizes he's pretty much the last one left who might remember Thasos, and feels sad. Lyralen: lays a consoling hand on Beltarn's shoulder. He isn't sure why his new friend is sad, but seeing him sad makes Lyralen sad too. Beltarne: "That phrase is something we need to check on when we get back to town as well." Beltarne: shrugs off Lyralen's hand. Osgar: "Er, you still have the book?" Bedlam: "Was Thasos a good friend of yours?" Beltarne: "Friends don't touch friends when they're sad. Friends buy friends alcohol and get roaring drunk whe they're sad." Beltarne: "Eh, a bit moody but a good lad nonetheless." Ystävä: pulls out his booze stash. It's substantially lighter than when he left town. Lyralen: "I'll, uh, remember that. For some time when we actually can afford to." GM: Thasos' possessions are likely still packed on one of the horses. I mean, his spare gunk and stuff, not the meteor hammer or anything. Beltarne: "Perhaps on the horse, or back at the townhouse." Beltarne: "Alright, shall we move on to find the armories?" Bedlam: "He was lucky to have a friend like you, to grieve his passing." Beltarne: "Lets get moving shall we?" Beltarne: harumphs. Osgar: "Aye, on to looking at the rest of the place" Ystävä: "I have the crowbar." Ystävä: "There were the lockers." Ystävä: "With the locks." Osgar: will check to see if the iron/ore in the smithy is meteoric GM: Osgar: no. GM: Mundane metal ores mostly. Osgar: bah, not even refined! GM: Okay, everyone make Vision -5 rolls then. Osgar: Vision check result: ?succeeded by 4 Bedlam: Vision check result: ?failed by 3 Beltarne: Vision check result: ?succeeded by 0 Mouser: Vision check result: ?succeeded by 2 Ystävä: Vison check result: ?CRITICALLY FAILED by 12» Ystävä: Hm. Ystävä: There's no attribute there. Torvall: Vision(12): result: ?failed by 4 » Ystävä: 7 doesn't work though. Lyralen: Vision result: ?succeeded by 1 » Ystävä: 8 Ystävä: wait! Ystävä: 7 totally works! Ystävä: Success by 1! Narrator: The delvers search the barracks and armory for an hour or two and find little. There are some rotten clothes, rusty weapons and armor, and ancient beds and cots. Carved into the wall at near one bed is the phrase "The path is BYGGYR" (in Dwarvish). Narrator: Several of the delvers also notice a faint outline of a hidden door in one of the hallways. When Osgar goes to investigate, he enters a small no-mana zone, extending maybe a yard out from the wall. Beltarne: muses "Color coded?" Lyralen: (( Looks like I got dropped from OOC chat. Re-add? )) Beltarne: "Bedlam, care to take a look at this to see if you can find the latch?" Osgar: "Good lords above, they go to the trouble of hiding it and then put a null magic zone on it?! It's like they WANT fey folk to find it and be annoyed!" Beltarne: "To prevent See Secrets from finding it, most like." GM: (dwarves: not always subtle) Bedlam: takes a look. GM: Rolls Traps -4. GM: Manual Dexterity helps. Osgar: "Interesting theory, too bad it makes it so I can find it by having ANY spell up, or even just paying attention!" GM: That's "Bedlam rolls Traps -4 to open the secret door." Beltarne: scratches his beard. Lyralen: "So does that imply it's a trap for your kind?" Beltarne: "Aye, that's a problem that is." Bedlam: Traps/TL3 result: ?failed by 6 Ystävä: (( sorry, just testing to figure out if my stats macro is fixed or just hates all life )) Ystävä: Perception check result: ?CRITICALLY FAILED by 52» GM: Bedlam cannot figure out how to open the door. Bedlam: scratches his beard. Ystävä: pulls out the crowbar. Osgar: how long does an attempt take? Bedlam: nods and steps out of the way. GM: 1 minute. Osgar: "Hold up there" Osgar: "Let me try, just hold a light for me while I do" Osgar: Traps/TL3 result: ?failed by 2 Osgar: uses LUCK at 2011-04-04 18:26:51 CST. Osgar: Traps/TL3 result: ?succeeded by 1 Osgar: Traps/TL3 result: ?CRITICALLY FAILED by 7 Osgar: I'll take by 1 Narrator: Looking somewhat peeved, Osgar fiddles with the door for a while then cautiously springs some levers and it slides open. Ystävä: sadly puts away the crowbar. Osgar: steps back Narrator: The room beyond is not especially large. White marble pavers lead to a bewildering array of multicolored tile arranged in a 6 by 6 grid. Beyond that, a small alcove holds a heavy stone altar with a large stone chest on top. Osgar: "Ok, you lot make sure it's not a trap to lock me in an a null magic zone now" Osgar: looks at Lyalen Narrator: Lyralen and Osgar blink, trying to shield their eyes from the overwhelming magic of the room: everything north of the south edge of the tile, especially the tiles themselves, glows brightly with harnessed magically power. Only the chest itself isn't magical. Beltarne: "Perhaps I should go." Beltarne: "Or I could at least spike the door open." Beltarne: "And we could tie a rope around you." Narrator: The tiles are made of black, yellow, green, and red marble, and inlaid with strange glyphs and sigils in the same marble. Osgar: "Well, it's very magical in there, just from a peek" GM: Also, at some point the mana level changed to normal, with some high aspects. Osgar: how many of each color tile are there? Osgar: "Can you make sense of the gylphs Beltarne?" GM: Well, the Water college is aspected High, anyway. Beltarne: Can I, oh most high GM? GM: What you see is what you get. None of the glyphs are recognizable to Beltarne or Osgar. Osgar: can you put me in the room? Osgar: so it's not all "darkened" GM: (I'd recommend adjusting your zoom so the tiles fill most of the screen.) GM: It looks like there are 9 tiles of each color. Lyralen: "Well, I *could* just fly over to the chest. If I were not now pathologically afraid of chests, that is." Bedlam: ((this is a puzzle?)) Osgar: (( looks like we have tile, symbol and dot colors? )) Beltarne: "Looks to me like the listed path is back from the chest. Ystävä: Alll black Ystävä: gah black aagain Ystävä: Better nao GM: (sorry about that) Beltarne: "Top right black, yellow, green, green, yellow, red, right?" Bedlam: "You mean we walk on the tiles in that order?" Beltarne: "Reverse the order to get there." Beltarne: "Red tile in front of Ystava, left to the yellow, forward to the green, left to the green, right to the yellow, right to the black." Beltarne: "I think." Ystävä: (( You can do them the other way. )) Ystävä: (( assuming it's not tile color. )) Bedlam: "Wait..." Bedlam: "The tiles are one color, but the markings on them are another." Beltarne: "That's true." Narrator: The fittings on the chest are obviously silver, shining and clean even from across the room. Beltarne: "If it's the small dots you could start on this side." Ystävä: (( if it's the letters, you can start at the left side, tile closest to us )) Beltarne: "Single black dot to second to the left, two yellow dots to the right of that, three green to the right of that, four green to the right of that, five yellow to the left, and three black dead ahead." Torvall: "Also, if it is the dots...it starts at 1 with black and goes up one at a time to 6 at red. Beltarne: "Er, yes, six red dots." Osgar: if it's the backgrounds, then it's a clear path, only diagonals Beltarne: "That sounds right." Osgar: other than the first Beltarne: "I think it's the dots. They increase the whole way across." Lyralen: "I agree." Bedlam: "Like counting?" Osgar: two greens on the next to last row but one is close GM: If someone wants to cross, then make sure your token isn't snap to grid so I can clearly see which tile you're on. Beltarne: "No time like the present." Beltarne: How do you turn that off? Beltarne: Well, I turned off snap and now I can't see anything. Beltarne: Including my icon. Ystävä: Same. Beltarne: steps forwards and winces, waiting. Narrator: Beltarne steps onto a tile. The air sparks a bit and stinks of ozone. Beltarne: lets out a deep breath. Torvall: ((Waits for the dwarf to asplode....)) Ystävä: Please tell me it's an IQ+10 roll to follow instructions through this. Assuming Beltarne wasn't completely destroyed. Narrator: Beltarne steps onto another tile, and another. The air stinks of sulphur, brimstone, ozone, and chlorine, but nothing else happens to him. Narrator: The chest does not appear to be locked. GM: Yeah, it's a no-brainer after someone has crossed safely and everyone is coaching. Beltarne: will patiently wait for people skilled in diffusing splodey stuff. Beltarne: ((defusing, rather)) Bedlam: ((I hope I didn't outplay my IQ... I just couldn't resist)) Osgar: (( nah, you're like 14 or so, so you're good )) GM: So is anyone else crossing over? Osgar: "Well, see if the chest is unlocked or should we follow? Bedlam: carefully follows Beltarne's path." Osgar: "Could be it disarms the trap on the chest" Lyralen: stays behind. Beltarne: "Do me a favor Bedlam, check this for anything that might try to kill us?" Osgar: "Does it look unlatched?" Beltarne: "Yes." GM: Bedlam, roll Perception based traps to examine the chest for traps. Bedlam: Traps/TL3 result: ?succeeded by 3 Bedlam: peers closely at the chest. GM: You don't find any traps. Bedlam: "Looks okay to me." Ystävä: (( gotta take the dog out )) Beltarne: reaches forward and opens the lid. Ystävä: (( bak )) Narrator: Inside is a silver-chased warhammer, an ornate and well-made breastplate sized for a dwarf, a matching helmet, and a thick pile of metal plates that Beltarne rapidly recognizes as a massive dwarven alchemy tome. GM: ("Der ?bergang von der Schw?che zur St?rke", or the manual of turning lead into steel) Bedlam: "Looks like you hit the jackpot." Beltarne: lets out a low whistle Beltarne: reverently reaches inside and lifts out the items. Ystävä: "ooOOOoooo" GM: They're very heavy. Der Ubergang weighs 48 lbs by itself, and the corselet weighs another 27 lbs or so. Osgar: heavy = valuable! Beltarne: hands Der Ubergang to Bedlam. GM: I'm just saying. Bedlam: "Er, what's this?" Beltarne: checks the inside of the chest to anything else that might have slipped into the cracks, or perhaps a false bottom. Ystävä: "It is the very bad shield." Beltarne: "A very expensive book." GM: Make a Search roll, Beltarne. Beltarne: ((Search?)) Beltarne: Search result: ?succeeded by 6 Osgar: "That book is likely worth it's weight in gold if it is what is says!" Bedlam: "Ha ha... very funny. There's no paper. It's all metal." Beltarne: "Dwarves build our books to last." GM: The book is made from thin sheets of silver, and some of the letters are illuminated with semi-precious gems. Ystävä: "Look, there is no handle. The quite bad shield. Pretty." GM: Beltarne finds nothing else in the chest. Bedlam: traces the letters with his fingers. Osgar: "Tis a metal book, not a shield" Bedlam: "Oh, I get it." Beltarne: drapes the breastplate over his pack, stuffs the helmet in the top, and hoists the warhammer over his shoulder. Beltarne: "Back we go." Bedlam: "Right. Same way?" Beltarne: "I hope so." Torvall: "Here's hoping coming back is just the reverse..." Narrator: The warhammer feels odd as Beltarne lifts it - better balanced than one would expect. Beltarne: steps, wincing. Narrator: The delvers retrace their steps without incidence. Beltarne: ((Like, could be weilded one-handed balanced?)) GM: People with armory (melee weapons) can roll. Ystävä: Armoury/TL3 (Melee Weapons) (10): result: ?succeeded by 5» Ystävä: has a moment of genius. Torvall: looks at the warhammer critically and says, "It's a hmmer." GM: Ystava recognizes it as an Impact Warhammer (see DF8 p 33). Ystävä: "oooOOOOoooOOOOooo" GM: It's also Fine and Silver-coated and Ornate +$1000 Ystävä: is completely incapable of explaining why it's cool. Beltarne: hands it to Ystava Beltarne: "Here, you can carry it since you seem to be so excited." Bedlam: "With the hitting and with the smashing, huh?" Beltarne: "Smash a gobbo with it or something." Ystävä: grins (his teeth are terrible) and his eyes light up, "And with the big holes in things!" GM: So now what are you guys up to? Going to loot the crypt? See what's at the bottom of the mines? Make your way through that barricaded door? Continue on to Shigrad? Travel to the island of the Storm Dukes? Beltarne: Shigrad, I think. Osgar: That far? Osgar: I think that is a lot farther than Kirkengard Beltarne: Shall we try to find Kirkengard some more? Osgar: any magic on either of those? Torvall: "I think we should check other areas in here that are not 'the door of doom'...if there are any left." GM: No magic on them. Osgar: "I'm tempted to go back and maybe get a better map on how to get there, plus we will be burdened by the ore" Ystävä: "Lockers!" Ystävä: "I have the crowbar!" Osgar: oh, have we mapped the parts that are not going down? GM: You've searched through the lockers and checked out most of the main 3 levels. Osgar: did we find the ore bin? I'm guessing they had to refill it at some point Beltarne: I thought they flew it back up. GM: The only way to go is down - there are some halls going up, but it looks like the final defensive deadfalls were triggered at some point and tons of rock block them. Osgar: maybe the gargoyles didn't ever do it... Beltarne: Yeah, lets return to town with ore, key, and dwarfey stuff, buy a better map and scrounge for rumors about the Master Forge, and maybe get jumped by gobbos. Osgar: well, how much ore is on the floor already if we pile it up? Osgar: sounds like a plan GM: Easily several tons of rock on the floor there. Osgar: also, can I do a quick and dirty refinement by doing shape earch and whatever doesn't move is a keeper? Beltarne: So yeah, load the pack animals to capacity with ore, then head back. All in favor? Torvall: "Aye." Bedlam: "Yep." Ystävä: "OK." GM: The meteoric iron will resist the associated rock being moved - it's like why meteoric iron arrowheads work on arrows, even though there's wood following. You might be able to refine it about 10% at best, but as it gets purer it gets harder to work with magic. Ystävä: "There will be the goblins?" Beltarne: "One can hope, eh?" GM: Just so you guys don't go crazy on me, unworked meteoric iron isn't worth much more than $50-$250/lb, depending on purity. Refined meteoric iron slugs are worth up to half that again. Osgar: I can at least use it to find the rocks with the most ore, some didn't have enough to resist the reverse missile GM: That's just a symptom of their purity. Ystävä: Exactly Lyralen: "Be sure to grab the one that caved in my skull. That one had a lot of meteoric iron in it." GM: I mean, there's a lot of meteoric iron ore here, but there's also a lot of meteoric rock here, if you get my meaning. Beltarne: ..... did we find a smithy aside from the master forge? Beltarne: And was there coal? Beltarne: .... smelting can't be that hard, right? GM: Sure, there are several associated with the armories. There's even a reasonable supply of coal and miscellaneous metals and some tools. Beltarne: ".... I have an idea." Osgar: ooh, refining time? GM: Smelting... someone else go read LTC3, get back to me. I don't think it's easy. Osgar: "A profitable idea?" Ystävä: I can! Ystävä: one sec, lemme check but I think it takes more than Prospecting GM: p 26. You need to crush, washing, roast, and slag into, possible slagging it multiple times. GM: Errr - replace slagging with smelting, I'm working through the terminology here. Ystävä: Takes days, and lots of coal. Beltarne: "We could maybe refine this on-site?" Ystävä: About 5x weight in coal GM: Assuming all the equipment works, you have sufficient auxillary supplies, and you know what you're doing, each of you could theoretically reduce 300 lbs of ore into 150 lbs of metoric iron in about a week. Ystävä: And it needs Metalurgy and Smith Lyralen: "Let Osgar: (( darn )) Lyralen: "Let's assume we all don't know what we're doing." GM: Yeah, I was also doubting the part where Osgar manhandled 300 lbs of ore by himself. Someone could supervise. Unskilled people could do the work under supervision, but it'd be risky. Osgar: ok, so maybe we can pick the more pure rocks, how much capacity do we have left on the pack animals? Osgar: - management! Osgar: that was an arrow Ystävä: ? unskilled labor GM: Beltarne, how much weight do you guys have left? I'm eyeballing it at ~200 lbs (including Ystava and Beltarne lift), not counting the loot you picked up today. GM: But I may also be missing some loot you've picked up recently. Beltarne: Really not sure. Beltarne: I haven't factored in loot weight to personal encumbrance, because I generally figure the pack beasts are carrying it. GM: I have =) you guys haven't picked up any real loot since you last left Polisberg (aside from today, I mean) other than the crab meat. So yeah, about 200 lbs and you can improvise containers for most of it. Beltarne: I'm only at 4 pounds from heavy. Beltarne: We have the key and the meteoric iron box, but that's it. GM: I have you at 125 lbs? Osgar: depending on the mana I can carry some non-meteoric on the carpet too Beltarne: 113.9, minus however much food we've eaten and I was carrying, according to my spreadsheet on the loot page. Beltarne: Not sure where the discrepancy is. GM: I have ~50 lbs/horse, 20 lbs for Ystava, 40 for Bedlam, and 45 or so for Osgar. GM: Of course, if you guys carry a bunch of sacks of meteoric iron, it'll be hard to drop all that encumbrance during a fight. Ystävä: Nah, shoulder yoke. GM: Or Beltarne can mule up with another 100+ lbs without really slowing down. Ystävä: Stick over the shoulder, bag on the front and back. Beltarne: Honestly I could probably go up to 234 without slowing down the party, though. Beltarne: Right. GM: Shoulder yoke requires a hand to steady, I think. Beltarne: Serious, that's why I have a 6' pole and two sticks. Beltarne: and two sacks, rather. Beltarne: So a weapon won't be ready, but still. Ystävä: Yep, but you take the hand off and drop it in one second by the rules Ystävä: And Ystava doesn't strictly NEED His axe while marching Ystävä: When ambushed, he's rather well armed by default Beltarne: It just makes him feel martial GM: Sure, but that's different than "weapons out and a quick release pack" Beltarne: Or well horned. Beltarne: Fair 'nuff. Beltarne: I'd be okay with that. Ystävä: Well yes. Just saying that this particular character isn't as penalized by not "Weapons out" Beltarne: And I don't think I have anything else to carry an extra 100 lbs in. Beltarne: So, fine by me. Ystävä: 18.165 Ystävä: 348-155.835] Ystävä: 192.165 GM: So 200 lbs easy, 300 lbs with some vulnerability for Beltarne. You have ~90 lbs of loot from today, and you can scrounge sacks and yolks with a Scrounging roll from the barracks, armories, etc. Ystävä: If I go heavy, I've got 190 lbs or so GM: Yeah, but you also halve the movement rate at that point. Ystävä: Someone roll Scrounge, I think we're OK for the moment. Beltarne: IF we stay here a bit and at least attempt to smelt some stuff, we'll have less food to take back. Ystävä: Well, yes. Ystävä: But we could end up leaving behind metal because we're idiots Beltarne: No scrounging here. Ystävä: and don't know how to smelt Beltarne: True. Ystävä: Scrounging is IQ default Ystävä: -4 Beltarne: Osgar, ahoy! Osgar: IQ check result: ?succeeded by 6 Beltarne: Ahoy! Narrator: Osgar quickly finds sacks and yokes. GM: So I take it you're picking up 200 lbs of meteoric iron ore and the armor and tome? Great. Someone roll prospecting to sort through the ore for higher quality bits. Beltarne: IQ check result: ?succeeded by 2 Beltarne: Luck Beltarne: IQ check result: ?failed by 2 Beltarne: IQ check result: ?succeeded by 7 Beltarne: There we go. Beltarne: I am seriously putting a point into Prospecting and Forced Entry as soon as we get back to town. Ystävä: Srsly. Ystävä: If I have to take a racial talent, I sink the 5-6 points in making it awesome GM: Beltarne spends another hour sorting through rocks. Just after 3 pm, the delvers are ready to set out. Beltarne: ((We roll!)) Ystävä: (( with rocks! )) GM: hang on, doing some math Ystävä: (( afk )) GM: okay, your packs are bulging with 200 lbs of meteoric iron ore. Osgar's carpet is a little less responsive than he'd like, but manageable. Clyde and Bonnie are clearly laboring. Beltarne is under a yoke and can't have a weapon ready. GM: On the plus side, you braved a dwarf fortress and aren't dead. So hey. Beltarne: ((Cause we know not to pull the lever)) Ystävä: (( bak )) Ystävä: (( why do they even HAVE that lever? )) Ystävä: (( sorry. It's a sickness. )) Ystävä: We march! Ystävä: We're going back to Polisberg, or on to Shirgard? Narrator: The delvers retrace their steps from the morning, following the well-paved by ill-maintained road to the east, the sun at their backs. Ystävä: Polisberg! Osgar: Yes, we don't actually know the whole silk road after all Ystävä: And, lots of rocks to carry. I follow. Narrator: A little after 4 pm, they spot a recently wrecked and looted wagon. It has clearly been burnt in the few hours, but there are no survivors. Ystävä: "GOBLINS!" Ystävä: puts his nose down and searches for evidence of filthy goblin raiders. Osgar: "They like burning wagons?" Ystävä: So he can raid them with a big pick to the head. GM: There are quite a few black-fletched arrows in the vicinity. GM: Make a tracking roll, Ystava. Ystävä: Sorry, just had to eject the cat Ystävä: Tracking (12): result: ?CRITICALLY SUCCEEDED by 13» Ystävä: tracks but good. Beltarne: ((Hooray gobbo smashin!)) GM: The track leads along the road for a while, then follows a river (the one with the dwarf bridge) south east into the hills. Beltarne: We have enough food for a side-trip, yes? Specially with all the crab meat? Torvall: ((We should have plenty...its been a short trek so far)) GM: It's a little after 6pm when you hit the river, and you've picked up the scent of goblins and wolves to go with the orc trail you've been following. GM: I take it the plan is to diverge from the road and follow them? Ystävä: I think we like the idea, yes. Torvall: We need to keep the minotau happy Beltarne: ((Ystava was promised gobbo smashin' earlier.)) Ystävä: (( and lo, here they are! )) Torvall: We DO NOT break our promises to the potentially grumpy minotaur.... GM: You follow the river up into the low but rugged hills until the sun sets. At one point, you cross a trail of men and horses, but they're travelling along the base of the hills and you're moving up into the hills. GM: Are you going to try to track them after the sun sets? You've just barely entered the hills at 7 pm, and you can sometimes glimpse a valley or pass to the southeast with a road running north-south. GM: I said road, I mean track or path running along a river. Osgar: do we need to stop and rest yet? Beltarne: We should probably bed down, they have better night vision than us and with our light sources they'll see us coming a mile away. Lyralen: "and can we possibly catch them, as burdened as we are?" GM: You guys have been doing stuff for about 11 hours, all told, so you don't have stop as long as you have at least 12FP. Ystävä: How badly looted did that wagon look? Beltarne: "They probably have some sort of base camp we can track them back to, Lyralen." GM: There were a few bodies, stripped, but there must have some survivors or captives because no one goes into the West March with only 2 friends. Everything portable had been taken from that wagon: hard to say what it was carrying. GM: You do know that sometimes brave but foolish merchants will attempt to cross the West March in a single wagon with a few outriders, hoping to avoid notice. This works about as well as you'd expect. GM: (by which I mean more than 3 in 4 of them survive the round trip to Shigrad!) GM: Continuing or stopping, folks? Beltarne: I vote stopping. Bedlam: stopping Narrator: As the sun sets, the delvers bed down for the night. Lyralen: "I'm all right with stopping... as long as we pick up the trail at first light!" Torvall: Probably best to stop. Beltarne: No fire tonight. Ystävä: grumps, and then cheers himself up with the prospect of goblin ambushes. Beltarne: And we cover our light sources. GM: Check.